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Texas Hold'em Poker
The quintessential mind sport of betting and bluffing: combine two private hole cards with five shared community cards to build the best possible five-card hand. Calculating card odds and reading an opponent's betting patterns work together, making it a game where luck and skill intertwine in just the right balance.
Rules
In Texas hold'em poker, you combine two private hole cards with five shared community cards to make the best possible five-card hand. This guide is written as a home-game standard played with chips, not real money — it does not recommend wagering or exchanging chips for cash.
Components and the table
Poker is played with one standard deck (52 cards, 4 suits × 13 ranks) and betting chips. This guide covers Texas hold'em and follows the official showdown, hand-ranking and betting rules, but is written as a home-game standard played with chips only.
| Component | Count | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Cards | 52 | 4 suits (♠♥♦♣) × 13 ranks (2–10, J, Q, K, A) |
| Chips | Several colors | Each color carries a different value for bets, raises and calls |
| Dealer button | 1 | Marks the dealer position for the hand — moves one seat clockwise each hand |
| Small and big blind | 1 each | Forced bets posted by the two seats left of the button |
This guide's assumption
Chips carry no real-money value and are never cashed out. The winner is simply whoever has the most chips remaining.
Setup — button, blinds and hole cards
- 1Assign the dealer button to anyone to start. After that it moves one seat clockwise every hand.
- 2The seat left of the button posts the small blind (SB), and the next seat posts the big blind (BB). Both are forced bets that count toward that hand's betting.
- 3The dealer deals two cards face down (hole cards) to every player. Each player sees only their own hole cards.
Heads-up (two players) is different
With only two players, the button also posts the small blind. The button acts first preflop, but acts last on every round after the flop.
A hand from preflop to showdown
- 1Preflop: after the blinds are posted, the first betting round starts with the player left of the big blind. Everyone acts based only on their two hole cards.
- 2Flop: three community cards are revealed at once, and the second betting round starts with the first active player left of the button.
- 3Turn: a fourth community card is revealed and a third betting round is played.
- 4River: a fifth and final community card is revealed and a fourth betting round is played.
- 5If two or more players remain, hands are compared at showdown. If only one player remains, that player takes the pot without a showdown.
Six betting actions
On your turn, choose exactly one of the six actions below. Declaring your action clearly in words is the standard.
| Action | Meaning | When available |
|---|---|---|
| Check | Pass the action without betting | Only when no bet has been made this round |
| Bet | Put chips in the pot for the first time this round | Only when no bet has been made this round |
| Call | Match an opponent's bet or raise | When facing a bet or raise |
| Raise | Increase the amount over the current bet | When facing a bet or raise, instead of calling |
| Fold | Give up your hand and leave the pot | At any time |
| All-in | Bet every chip you have left | When your remaining chips fall short of a call or raise |
Minimum raise size
A raise must be at least as large as the biggest bet or raise already made in that round. For example, if a bet of 100 is raised to 300 (a raise of 200), the next raise must add at least 200 more, to a total of at least 500.
- If chips are pushed out before any words, the chips decide the action. If a clear verbal declaration comes first, the words decide.
- String bets are not allowed — pushing out chips in separate motions to add to a bet. A raise must be pushed out in one motion or its amount declared before the chips hit the table.
- Betting every remaining chip is an all-in, even if it falls short of a call or raise; other players may still keep betting among themselves afterward.
The ten hand rankings
At showdown, combine your two hole cards with the five community cards and use whichever five cards make your best hand. Rankings fall from strongest to weakest below.
| Rank | Hand | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A-K-Q-J-10, all one suit |
| 2 | Straight flush | Five consecutive cards, all one suit |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Four cards of one rank plus any card |
| 4 | Full house | Three of one rank plus two of another |
| 5 | Flush | Five cards of the same suit, any order |
| 6 | Straight | Five consecutive cards, suits may differ |
| 7 | Three of a kind | Three cards of one rank plus two unrelated cards |
| 8 | Two pair | Two different pairs plus one card |
| 9 | One pair | Two cards of one rank plus three unrelated cards |
| 10 | High card | None of the above — compare the highest card |
Suits carry no rank
Within the same hand category, suits never break a tie. If the ranks compare exactly equal, the pot is split.
Showdown and side pots
Showdown follows the cards-speak principle. A verbal claim of having won is not binding; only the cards tabled on the table decide the winner.
- 1Whoever bet or raised last on the final betting round tables their hand first.
- 2Other players table their hands in turn, or may muck face down without tabling if they expect to lose.
- 3Everyone compares their best five-card combination from their two hole cards and the five community cards; the highest hand takes the pot.
| Pot | Eligible players | Share taken |
|---|---|---|
| Main pot | Everyone remaining, including the all-in player | Up to the amount each player put in |
| Side pot | Only players who kept betting past the main pot | The all-in player cannot win it |
A short all-in cannot win more than its share
A player who goes all-in for less than a full call cannot win a side pot built from larger bets. Winning the main pot does not affect the side pot, which is still contested among the players who kept betting.
Ending the game
For home play, choose one of two formats.
| Format | Ends when | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| Tournament style | One player holds all the chips at the table | The last player left with chips |
| Cash-game style | A set time or number of hands is reached | Whoever holds the most chips at that point |
Raise the blinds as you go
To keep the game from dragging on, raise the small and big blind amounts at set intervals. A blind-increase timer makes this easy to track.
Basic strategy
- Later position is an advantage. Because of the betting order, seats closer to the button get to see opponents act before deciding.
- Folding weak hole cards early costs nothing extra. Folding is always available and requires no further chips.
- Declare your action clearly. If your words and chips disagree, the rules may resolve it against you.
- Betting to make opponents fold is a legitimate tactic. You don't always need the best hand to win a pot — though remember this guide is written around chips, not money.
Formats and variants
| Format | Difference |
|---|---|
| Cash game | Blind amounts stay fixed and players may leave the table any time |
| Tournament | Blinds rise over time and players are eliminated when out of chips |
| Heads-up (2 players) | The button also posts the small blind (see Setup) |
| Short-handed (6 or fewer) vs. full ring (9–10) | Fewer players makes late position more valuable |
Local Korean variants are outside this guide
Korean play sometimes mixes in a "hi-lo" betting style, but its betting structure differs from the international standard Texas hold'em covered here, so it is not described in this guide.
Frequently confused rules
Q. What happens if two players' hands compare exactly equal?
Since suits never break a tie, the pot is split. If the split leaves an odd chip that can't divide evenly, it goes to whoever is closest to the button.
Q. Who wins if two players both have one pair of the same rank?
The next-highest card, the kicker, decides it. If both players hold a pair of nines, whoever has the higher of the remaining three cards wins.
Q. Can an ace count as a 1?
Only in a straight, as the lowest card of A-2-3-4-5 (the 'wheel'). In every other hand, it always counts as the highest card.
Q. Can other players keep betting past someone who is already all-in?
Yes. Whatever the all-in player could not match forms a side pot, which the all-in player cannot win; they can only win the main pot.
Q. Can I win using all five community cards?
Yes, this is called playing the board, and it still requires tabling both hole cards to be recognized.
Q. After checking, can I bet later in the same round?
No. Once you check, you either pass through the rest of that round without betting, or you may call, raise or fold once someone else bets.
History and Korean adoption
Texas hold'em is believed to have originated in Robstown, Texas, in the early twentieth century, a origin the Texas legislature has officially recognized. Corky McCorquodale introduced it to the California Club in Las Vegas in 1963, and in 1967 a group of Texas gamblers helped spread it further around the city.
In 1970, Benny and Jack Binion renamed their tournament the World Series of Poker (WSOP), establishing the no-limit hold'em main event format used today. Chris Moneymaker's 2003 WSOP main-event win via an online qualifier sparked the online poker boom, and Greg Raymer's repeat win in 2004 kept interest growing.
In Korea, the game first spread through people with overseas study experience, largely in Gangnam-area venues in the early 2000s, and reached a wider audience once Hangame launched an online Texas hold'em service in December 2005. Casino bars began featuring it prominently from around 2018, and Korean play today often mixes house rules such as 'hi-lo' alongside the international standard.
History is kept separate from the rules
Sources vary on some details of the game's origin and spread, so only the facts confirmed by both English Wikipedia and Namuwiki are recorded here.
Sources
Poker TDA — 2024 Rules, Procedures & Illustration Addendum (Version 1.0, Oct 9, 2024) · read in full via a Wayback Machine capture from 2026-05-15WSOP official site — hand rankings and kicker ruleWSOP official site — basic Texas hold'em flow (dealer button, blinds, betting rounds)Wiki cross-check — English Wikipedia: Texas hold 'emWiki cross-check — Namuwiki: Texas hold'em (Korean)Rule summaries are reference content written by us, not quotations from the official rulebook. Always check the official rulebook for exact rules. Diagrams are original schematics, not rulebook illustrations.
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Last updated 2026-10-10
💡 Master tip
Don't enter every pot with a weak hole-card hand. Boldly folding hands you should fold and committing chips only to hands with strong winning odds is the shortcut to winning. Watching how an opponent's bet sizing and timing change can give you a good read on whether they're bluffing.
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